A brigade of volunteers protects Kyiv from suicide attacks

Across Kiev, drone “hunters” remain ready to defend the Ukrainian capital from suicide attacks.

As night falls, the defenders of the Ukrainian capital ascend to the cold rooftops and point their rifles skyward.

From the top of a Soviet apartment building, drone “hunters” scan the pitch black darkness for a target.

Conditions are not at all favourable, with temperatures expected to drop below zero. In a war characterized by rapid technological progress, Ukrainian volunteer Natalia Kovalenko relies on a double machine gun manufactured in 1946.

Kovalenko (43 years old), a mother of two children who works as a judge in the Constitutional Court, says, “A good hit with a hammer usually solves any defect in the sprinkler. The important thing is that it works.”

Suicide attacks

Ukraine suffered a massive number of suicide attacks last fall, 10 times more than in the same period in 2023, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. In one night during November, Russia launched 188 drones into Ukraine, an unwanted record.

Previously, Iran sold Shahed 136 aircraft to Russia for $193,000 per aircraft, but Russia’s stock of drones has swelled since Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a deal with Tehran to build a drone factory in Tatarstan, which led to… Reducing costs. Russia is currently producing Shahed aircraft for only $50,000 and is tinkering with the design to make them more lethal. Russian engineers installed thermobaric warheads (vacuum bombs that suck oxygen from the air) on planes, and also appear to have increased their range.

However, it does not make economic sense for Kiev to use the US Patriot air defenses in the capital to shoot down drones at a cost of four million dollars per missile. But instead, the task was left to part-time volunteers, armed with old rifles, to keep the capital safe.

Crooked roads

The drones head to Kiev after taking a circuitous route to the capital, with the aim of confusing Ukrainian air defense teams, some of which roam the city on the back of small trucks.

Previously, drones were flown directly along roads and rivers to muffle the sound of their engines, a sound so distinctive that they earned the nickname “scooters.”

Now the “witness” planes take non-straight routes, moving here and there, and pretend to attack nearby cities, before approaching Kiev from random directions, and falling from different altitudes.

“Shahed” was redesigned to fool Ukrainian radar systems and distract air defense teams in the capital. Western officials believe that between 50 and 60 percent of all drones are now equipped with camouflage devices.

preparedness

Volunteer Natalia Kovalenko waits, watching her iPad, while enemy planes move in Ukrainian airspace, and as soon as the target approaches, she is on high alert. Her old rifle was equipped with a night vision camera.

A second member of the four-man team uses a flashlight for illumination, a third member exchanges updates via radio with the brigade headquarters, and a fourth member equips a relatively modern Czechoslovak machine gun.

The Ukrainian volunteer explains that shortly before the start of her 24-hour shift with the “Mriya” volunteer brigade, she was hearing a rather important case in court.

In fact, the brigade is largely composed of volunteers with legal backgrounds. The brigade commander, Serhiy Sas (67 years old), a former judge in the Constitutional Court, says: “In the brigade we have 10 members of parliament and more than 50 judges,” adding: “At the beginning of the full invasion, we realized that if Kiev fell, there would be no parliament or Courts, and we would be the first to be arrested by the Russians, and we needed to protect ourselves.”

Avoid penalties

Within about three years of war, more than 12.3 thousand civilians were killed, according to a United Nations official, noting that the number of casualties has increased in recent months, amid the use of drones, long-range missiles and slip bombs. The part-time drone “hunters” resemble the British volunteer units that defended London during air raids during World War II.

During the dismantling of a recently shot down “Shahed” plane, Serhiy SAS tore off the tough fabric protecting the plane and carrying a component from an American company, which is evidence of Russia’s success in avoiding sanctions. He says: “We are targeting the plane’s engine or the explosives it was equipped with, and this is the only way to ensure its destruction.”

Outside Kiev, helicopters can knock Shahed planes away, or quadcopter drones can be used to collide with them, but the risk of collateral damage is very high on high-rise buildings in the capital. Another way to prevent enemy aircraft from reaching Kiev is to trick them into returning to Russia, or divert them to Belarus, a technique known as “spoofing” that involves sending false GPS coordinates. About “The Times”

. In one night last November, Russia launched 188 drones into Ukraine, a record number.

. The Shahed plane was redesigned to fool Ukrainian radar systems and distract air defense teams in Kiev.